1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system, device, and method for communication, an apparatus and method for processing information, a computer program and a recording medium. More particularly, the present invention relates to a system, device, and method for communication, an apparatus and method for processing information, a computer program and a recording medium for performing safe and highly convenient communications with a simple arrangement.
2. Description of the Related Art
Contactless IC cards and radio frequency identification (RFID) are now in widespread use. If a plurality of contactless IC cards or a plurality of reader/writers transmits radio wave in communication between known cards and reader/writers, each card or each reader/writer cannot discriminate one reader/writer from another or one card from another. This is called RF collision. To avoid RF collision, individual cards use card identifications (IDs) unique to the individual cards thereof.
When the card ID is used to avoid collision, any reader/writer can read the card ID. A holder of a card ID is easily identified and privacy of the holder can be violated.
Products may be tagged with RFID to show authenticity thereof particularly when the products are rare. The RFID attached to a product is a unique ID. With any reader/writer communicable with the RFID, the activity of a user who purchases the product can be monitored.
Near field communication-interface and protocol (NFCIP) for identifying an IC card and a RFID within a communication coverage area of a reader/writer is standardized as ISO/IEC 18092 (NFCIP-1). According this standard, collision is avoided with the ID unique to the IC card or the RFID untransmitted to the reader/writer.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2005-348306 discloses a technique for protecting privacy. According to the disclosure, secret shared information is set up in digital tags of each of the reader/writer and the RFID, and only a reader/writer having the secret shared information can decrypt encrypted information. This technique thus prevents unauthorized tracking, thereby protecting privacy.